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The True Cost of Bottled Water

Buying a bottle of water seems so simple, so uncomplicated. Charles Fishman’s recent article, “Message in a Bottle,” on the Fast Company website quickly puts an end to that illusion:

. . . Bottled water is often simply an indulgence, and despite the stories we tell ourselves, it is not a benign indulgence. We’re moving 1 billion bottles of water around a week in ships, trains, and trucks in the United States alone. That’s a weekly convoy equivalent to 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water. (Water weighs 81/3 pounds a gallon. It’s so heavy you can’t fill an 18-wheeler with bottled water–you have to leave empty space.)

The environmental impact is only one part of the story, though, which also has to do with social justice:

And in Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji.

Do you buy bottled water?

Will you buy bottled water?

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One Response

I loved the message in The True Cost of Bottled Water. Reading it made me try – really try – to kick the bottled water habit. I printed the blog entry and stuck it to my refrigerator — in case I (or other family members) am tempted to buy bottled water. No more buying those bewitchingly convenient little bottles by the case and parking them in the kitchen.

When a bottle comes my way I wash it and re-use it, filling it with tap water — and I’m even starting to feel guily about that!

Like many things, once I’m made aware of the consequences of my actions as a consumer it’s a big Gee, duh — but since I don’t figure things out for myself, I appreciate the alert.